Maybe you're not prepared to see Michele Bachmann twerking and John Boehner in his underwear, but hey, most government workers weren't prepared to be furloughed without pay last week either. I'm not sure the idea of combining the government shutdown with Miley Cyrus's "We Can't Stop" video would have occurred to the SNL writers if Cyrus hadn't hosted this week's show, but she was the host and musical guest, and that's how this insane, masterfully disturbing parody was born. "It's our party we can do what we want, we can shut what we want" indeed.
Turning into Michele Bachmann wasn't Cyrus's most impressive transformation of the night-- neither was her dead-eyed Scarlett Johansson, for that matter-- but it is a weird look, making Cyrus look like a completely different person without that bleached blond hair. If this were 5 years ago and Miley were still thought of mostly as Billy Cyrus's daughter and Hannah Montana this might be controversial, but that ship sailed long ago. And hey, speaking of the VMAs, SNL actually managed to do a pretty good parody of her now-iconic performance there, by bringing in Vanessa Bayer as the Miley Cyrus of a few years ago, and Taran Killam in a brief but perfect appearance as her partner in crime, Robin Thicke:
As I wrote back when The Parents Television Council was mad at her, I'm backing Miley and her weird, controversy- courting ways, especially since buzz on her album Bangerz is actually pretty good. Her proven ability to make fun of herself, even in the middle of this weird attention-seeking phase, only increases her stock in my eyes. It at least makes me want to see her and Taran Killam team up again-- buddy cop movie, anyone?
